Integrity and Truth in Art
Paul Rucker
Art is powerful. Last year I enthusiastically told many about Mike Daisey’s “The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs,” a show I attended at Seattle’s Repertory Theatre. I felt honored to have attended the last scheduled show of this run. I feel disheartened knowing that not only did Mike Daisey lie to millions of visitors to his show, the many talk shows and TV shows on which he was an invited guest, and Public Radio International’s This American Life, he also did something much worse. He compromised the trust we place in art.
Art is powerful because it can promote change. It has the power to change minds, help causes, and build bridges. Art has the power to make the unseen seen, and if done right it can be moving beyond words. Using this power based on dishonesty for the advancement of ego, profit, or even the cause is unacceptable.
Trust between the audience and performer cannot be compromised. When people come to a performance, they come with open hearts. I rarely go to a performance to be entertained; I go to be enlightened, to take a journey, to connect with performers and artists that are doing what they do because they have a story to tell.
As I write this post to you on my 5 year old MacBook Pro, I hope that this incident does not jeopardize the advancement of human rights violations in China, or in other parts of world. Mike Daisey, you owe a lot of refunds, and a big apology.
Paul
If you need to contact me directly.